Many applications require a supply of a pressurized fluid, such as, for example, pressurized air. These applications may include a compression system that increases the pressure of a fluid from a first pressure to a second pressure for use in the particular application. The compression system may include a series of compression stages that apply work to the fluid to achieve the desired pressure increase. For example, the compression system may include a first compressor that increases the pressure of the fluid from a first pressure to an intermediate pressure and a second compressor that increases the pressure of the fluid from the intermediate pressure to the second pressure.
A vehicle such as, for example, an on highway truck, is one example of an application that may require a flow of pressurized air. A compression system on a vehicle may include one or more superchargers and/or turbochargers that increase the pressure of a flow of intake air for an internal combustion engine. The pressurized intake air may be used to increase the air mass within the combustion chambers of the engine, which may lead to an increase in the mass of fuel that may be injected and, thus, an increase in the power output of the engine. A compression system with a greater efficiency may provide a greater power increase than a compression system with a lower efficiency.
The efficiency of a compression system may be increased by reducing the amount of energy required to increase the pressure of the fluid from the first pressure to the second pressure. A compressor may most efficiently increase the pressure of a flow of fluid when the fluid enters the compressor with a uniform flow profile, such as, for example, in a laminar flow. However, the fluid flowing out of a compressor typically includes a rotational component or vortex. This rotational component contains dynamic pressure that may be lost when the fluid flow enters a second compressor. Thus, additional energy may be required to drive the second compressor to achieve the desired pressure increase. In other words, the presence of the swirl, or other irregularity in the fluid flow between compression stages, may result in a reduction of the overall efficiency of the compression system.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.